AN ACT AUTHORIZING THE MAYOR AND COUNCIL OF WILMINGTON TO CREATE A DEPARTMENT OF MOTOR VEHICLES, OUTLINING THE POWERS AND DUTIES THEREOF, AND PROVIDING PERSONNEL THEREFOR.

Be it enacted by the General Assembly of the State of Delaware (two-thirds of the Members of each House thereof concurring therein):

Section 1. The Council of The Mayor and Council of Wilmington is hereby authorized, in its discretion, to create a Department of Motor Vehicles of The Mayor and Council of Wilmington. Said Department shall consist of three members. Such members shall be appointed by the Mayor, subject to confirmation by The Council, and shall serve without compensation. When the Department is first established, the members thereof shall be appointed or elected for terms of such length and so arranged that the term of at least one member shall expire each year and their successors shall be appointed for terms of three years each. Any member of said Department may be removed for cause, after a public hearing, by the Mayor with the approval of The Council. A vacancy occurring otherwise than by expiration of term, shall be filled for the unexpired term in the same manner as an original appointment. Such Department shall elect annually a chairman and secretary from its own number and may employ such personnel as it deems necessary to execute the powers and perform the duties hereinafter prescribed.

No person shall be eligible for appointment as a member of said Department who shall not be a citizen of the United States, a qualified voter of the State, and a resident of the City of Wilmington, for the last five years next preceding his appointment. Upon removal of the residence of any such member from the City of Wilmington, his said office shall be deemed to be vacated.

Section 2. Said Department shall operate a municipal garage or garages and shall maintain and provide for municipal uses of motor vehicles owned by The Mayor and Council of Wilmington. All maintenance and use of motor vehicles presently owned by The Mayor and Council of Wilmington shall, upon the creation of said Department, be transferred to said Department. All facilities and personnel for the maintenance, repair and storage of motor vehicles shall be under the supervision, direction and control of said Department. The Mayor and Council of Wilmington be and it is hereby authorized to prescribe in detail the further powers and duties of said Department in connection with said motor vehicles.

Section 3. The Council of The Mayor and Council of Wilmington shall, in its discretion, appropriate such funds to said Department as are necessary for the operation of said Department.

Section 4. The doing of all work and the furnishing of all materials, equipment and supplies required by said Department shall be let out by the members of said Department to the lowest and best bidder, except in cases where, in the opinion of said members, it is not practicable to do such work or furnish such materials, equipment and supplies by contract upon competitive bidding. The solicitation of bids by said Department shall be in the manner now prescribed for the Street and Sewer Department of The Mayor and Council of Wilmington.

Section 5. The City Auditor shall examine all bills against said Department and endorse them as correct before they are presented to said Department for payment ; he shall also examine and countersign all drafts or orders and withhold his signature in case the draft or order is made without sanction of law, or with any circumstances of fraud actually or presumably attached thereto, in all of which cases he shall report his action and the grounds therefor to the members of said Department at their ensuing meeting; said members shall thereupon duly, carefully and publicly consider the case and shall sustain or overrule his action by a unanimous vote of all the members of said Department, whereupon it shall be the duty of the City Auditor in case he shall be overruled to countersign the said

draft or order, in which case he shall be exonerated from all responsibility in the premises. He shall also keep a book or books in which an exact and complete record of all accounts so paid shall be entered, keeping a debtor and a credit account with all persons doing work for or furnishing materials to the said Department in any manner.

Section 6. The moneys and revenue received by said Department shall be deposited to the credit of said Department in such bank in Wilmington as it shall determine upon, and all money to be disbursed therefrom on account of the duties and obligations by this act imposed, shall be drawn upon warrants signed by the Chairman of said Department and countersigned by the City Treasurer and City Auditor.

It shall be the duty of the City Auditor, during the first week of every month, to examine and audit the accounts of the said Department for the month last preceding; and he shall make duplicate certificates, showing the result of such examination and audit, one of which he shall deliver to the said Department and the other shall be by him transmitted to The Council.

Section 7. Each member of said Department shall, immediately after organization, enter into a bond with sureties to The Mayor and Council of Wilmington in the sum of Ten Thousand Dollars ($10,000.00), said sureties to be approved of by the City Solicitor, the condition of which bond shall be as follows, viz : The condition of this obligation is such that if the above bounden , one of the members of the Department of Motor Vehicles, shall in all things comply with the provisions of this act, and shall faithfully execute the trust confided to him, then the above obligation to be void, otherwise to remain in full force and virtue. To the said bond there shall be subjoined a warrant of attorney to confess judgment thereon, and the said bond and warrant shall be filed in the office of the City Treasurer, there to remain until in the judgment of the City Judge, the interest of the City demands that it be entered in the Superior Court of the State of Delaware in and for New Castle County.